England Under-19 v Cricket Web Under-19
at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
The first morning of this game at Sophia Gardens set the tone of the match, as Cricket Web won the toss, raced to lunch with 184 runs up on the scoreboard, and simply didn't mind the fact that England's leading bowler, spinner White, had taken two of the four wickets to fall. Cricket Web Under-19 were brutal, rapid, and forceful in making their runs, with the possible exception of Andy Cameron; the seamer did his best impression of Jason Gillespie in a dour, but impressive 58, before he inside edged a slower ball from seamer Andrew Miller in the fading light. It didn't matter; with a belligerent Matt Pitt on the other end, who followed up his one-day century with a magnificent 148 not out, the eighth-wicket partnership recorded 178, as the England bowlers were frustrated to their wits' end. Miller picked up another wicket to go away with the most, but White was the bowler to offer the most consistent threat - however, his leg-spinners were not turning enough to give Cameron difficulty, while Pitt chose to dispatch him by aiming to hit every ball out of sight.
With the first innings over and 431 runs to play with, the Cricket Web seamers got a good start, as the hosting side's batsmen took the opposite approach to batting. It nearly worked: after nine overs, England U-19 were 11 for nought, but Cameron got a wicket in his seventh over of a testing opening spell and second change bowler Rich Edmunds then claimed the scalp of England's number three Nelson for 11. With opener Stoneman finally gone to an extraordinarily quick delivery from Harry Warwick, England were down - but, as Moeen Ali and Rory Hamilton-Brown proved, not out. It took several incisive bowling changes before Mamesh found the right combination, with McKern shattering Hamilton-Brown's stumps in the 60th over - after 35 overs without wickets. Still, Ben Wright proved almost as unsurmountable, while Ali kept being in control of the bowlers at the other end. The two put on 78 to leave England in a good position at 261 for 5, but their tail were not nearly as resilient as the Webheads, and after a brief cameo from Mullaney the hosts collapsed to Cameron - who claimed five for 88 to go with the first-innings half-century.
Ali was last out, going back for a second run which was never there in order to protect the No. 11 Miller, and then followed carnage. The visitors, having a good lead to play with, decided to play their natural game - which was of the one-day variety. Of the double-digit scores, Matt Currie's 37 was the slowest - off 52 deliveries - while Nick Scott, Ben Vaughan and Shan Jasotharan all smacked runs at will. Needless to say, they were all caught, as England bowled their opponents out in a mere 37 overs...while conceding 201 more runs in the process. The bowling changes then did the rest of the trick, as both McKern, Edmunds and Currie claimed wickets in their first overs, and Currie continued to get slightly flattering figures of 4-1-6-4, though he kept dropping opponents as if to make the point that he wanted the five-for. Despite the drops, the hosts were all out for 157, and the Webheads kept up their impressive run during this tour: played six, won six.
Cricket Web Under-19 431 all out
England Under-19 309 all out
Cricket Web Under-19 201 all out
England Under-19 157 all out
Cricket Web Under-19 won by 166 runs
Man of the Match: Andy Cameron